Cuomo signs SUNY legislation

Gov. Andrew Cuomo today signed legislation that provides additional funding to state schools and allows research-oriented institutions such as Stony Brook University to hike their tuition, boosting their revenue and increasing costs for students.

Cuomo signed legislation to implement the NYSUNY 2020 Challenge Grant Program and institute what he called a “rational tuition plan for SUNY and CUNY.”

The new law lets each SUNY and CUNY campus raise tuition $300 annually for five years, replacing an era of what Cuomo described as “sudden tuition increases with a system that is predictable and empowers students and parents to plan for college expenses.”

Tuition had long been set by the state Legislature, often leading to an absence of hikes in or near election years, followed by sudden, periodic spikes.

The law also lets schools dubbed “university centers” including SUNY Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo and Stony Brook impose an additional 3 percent increase – including a $75 fee and up to 10 percent for out-of-state students –- annually for five years.

Stony Brook University President Samuel L. Stanley said additional funding from the plan will “provide increased financial aid for our students, grow our faculty, improve research and patient care” and create jobs.

The schools can only implement those hikes, if their NYSUNY 2020 applications are approved by the governor and SUNY chancellor. They must include other financial aid plans to qualify for the rational “plus” program.

The act also authorizes $80 million in capital funding for the four university centers, to be granted based on their NYSUNY 2020 applications.

When combined with the additional $60 million in existing SUNY funds, the total program investment totals $140 million, Cuomo said.

“Under the new tuition plan, students and parents will be able to reasonably plan for college expenses instead of being subject to the dramatic tuition increases and uncertainty of the past,” Cuomo said.

SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher, who pushed hard for this program, said it would result in “fair, rational and predictable tuition reform in New York state.”

SUNY said that for the past 20 years, the average annual SUNY tuition increase has been 6.7 percent, well above the five-year, $300 increases included in this legislation.